


What Should Have Been (Season 6 Finale)

by SmoakNmirriors



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 6x23, Alternative Season 6 ending, Arrow (TV 2012) - Freeform - Freeform, Children, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Felicity is such a mom, Grief/Mourning, Heartbreak, I Love You, Married Couple, Missing Scene, OTP Feels, Oliver Queen in Prison, The writers did us wrong, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 03:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21029744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmoakNmirriors/pseuds/SmoakNmirriors
Summary: Oliver and Felicity share a tender moment and emotional conversation before Oliver is taken to prison.Felicity comes to a decision about her future.Alternate ending to Arrow 6x23





	What Should Have Been (Season 6 Finale)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or story lines. These are works of purely fiction. They are not intended to infringe on any rights by and of the companies and/or individuals involved in the production of any series mentioned here. 
> 
> I watched the Season 6 finale when it aired. It was really upsetting at how little the show allowed for us to see how heartbreaking Oliver's decision was, and how it would affect his family. It wasn't until I woke myself up at 3AM that night (or morning), that I realized how angry I was and wrote this entire Fic. This is my take on how Season 6 should have ended. Also I am new to this whole "letting other people see my writing" thing... So please bear with me and don't be afraid to tell me what you think:)

Her arms were wrapped around his neck and head burrowed in his shoulder, holding onto him like a lifeline.

“Felicity” Oliver said in a soft whisper. 

“NO” Felicity shouted. Oliver didn’t even flinch at the sound of her loud voice. He knew this was coming. He had known it the second he decided to sacrifice his freedom in order to gain immunity for the others. 

‘This is not it! This is not how WE end! We have fought for 6 years Oliver! Our story is not over, do you hear me? We will find a way! We always find a way!” She was sobbing now. He could feel her tears soaking his shirt. Oliver’s whole chest felt like it was being ripped open by how much pain he heard in her voice. He heard her take a deep breath before she continued. Oliver just stood there and waited until she looked up at him with sadness clouding her big, beautiful blue orbs. “We are supposed to go on our honeymoon, to Aruba and move into a beautiful house with William. We are supposed to add to our family... 2 more is what we said. We are supposed to teach our children together, grow old together, watch our grandchildren play for hours on end while we reminisce over how much we love each other and the life we have worked so damn hard to build together. We are supposed to fight together, kick ass together, fall a part together, hope together. This is not the end of us.” A little choking noise escaped from the back of her throat. “There will never be an end to us.” 

Oliver was so taken aback by the determination, conviction and devastation he saw, that all he could do was pull her back to his chest. He held her there, not saying anything. As her sobs evened out slightly, he could feel his own threatening to be released. He bent his head down and smelled her hair, taking her in for what could be the last time. She slowly looked up and pulled away slightly. Oliver thought that she was going to back away, but instead she brought up her small fist and started to hit him. She hit his chest over and over again, screaming “Why didn’t you fight for us! Why are you leaving me again? How could you make ANOTHER decision without me?! How could you leave your wife and son and destroy our future together?! We deserve a future! How could you do this!?!” She swung so many times that Oliver lost count, but he didn’t care. He let her hit him because he didn’t know what else to do. He knew that what he did had been the right thing to do at the time that he made the deal, but now seeing Felicity standing In front of him, he began to question whether it was worth destroying his son and the love of his life in the process. 

When was it their turn to be happy?

Suddenly she stopped, arms falling at her sides. “You can’t leave me Oliver…not again” She said in a whispered sob. “I won’t survive”.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed her face tenderly with both hands and kissed her. He couldn’t say how long they kissed for, but it broke apart far too quickly. But then again, he would never have enough time to kiss her, even if they got their happy ending. Their foreheads were pressed together tightly as he held onto her beautiful, snotty, tear-covered face. He nudged her nose with his own to signal he wanted her to look at him. 

The moment she did, he took a deep breath (because he could really feel the sob that was about to escape) and said as firmly as he could manage “Felicity, You are my everything. Do you hear me?! My absolute everything! You are my rock, my healer, my biggest believer, my heart, my soul, and my light. A light so bright that it’s blinding at times” 

He took another breath, trying to keep the tears in his eyes from spilling over, but he was not successful. “I love you so much that it hurts! And that will NEVER change! I will love you with all that I am until my dying day, and then still. You…you have given me more than I could have ever imagined for myself. You have given me everything. And I am so sorry that I didn’t talk to you about this but... I just... there wasn’t really time with everything going on and ….” 

“That is bullshit!” she yelled. “And you know it! There were multiple opportunities for you to say something, but you didn’t. Again, you made a massive decision without me! How could you do that after all that we have been through? How could you…” 

He silenced her with another kiss, trying to stop the tears that began to fall. When he pulled away, he whispered “You’re right. But I knew that if I told you, you would have never let me go. You would have killed yourself trying to find another way. But baby... look at me”. He waited for her eyes to meet his before he continued. “There was no other way this time. I have to do this. I don’t have a choice.” He hung his head low as he finished, unable to look at her. 

Instantly she gripped his head in her hands aggressively, forcing his line of sight upwards. “There is ALWAYS another way Oliver!” 

He gasped at the intensity of her stare. Suddenly wanting to do 3 things in that exact moment. 1) Cry for the life he was losing. 2) Hold the love of his life, his shining light, and never let go. 3) Kiss her senseless, not parting until the need for oxygen became too overwhelming. 

But all he could do in that moment was temporary. Temporary, although still impossibly difficult, was better than nothing. So instead of fighting her in their last moments together, he just smiled as convincingly as he could through watery eyes and pulled her close once more. She wrapped her small hands around him as tightly as she could, and he did the same. He buried his face in her hair and kissed her over and over again. Her head pressed against his chest, breathing him in, trying to make them one. Both murmured “I love you” in between quiet sobs. 

Far too soon, when someone came in the interrogation room to tell them that their time was up, Felicity had to be yanked aggressively from his grasp, because Lord knows she wasn’t going to give him up willingly. 

She yelled after him. Oliver looked back at her, a deep sadness brewing in his facial features that she knew all too well, before he was briskly taken around the corner and disappeared from sight. Felicity stood there, arms reaching for him, knowing that all she was left with now was a broken heart and an emptiness that only her husband could fill.

Felicity felt herself losing control again. A sob was about to break through (and not the forgiving kind), when she turned around and found William staring at her. She put her hand over her mouth, trying to compose herself. She inhaled, waited a moment, and started to walk towards him. But he was already running towards her. He crashed into her small frame, almost knocking her to the ground, and clung to her. She could feel him shaking as his tears spilled onto her shoulder. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Later that night, when they finally got home, Felicity stopped in the door to take in the scene In front of her. Broken glass still littered the floor and remnants of the family dinner they had tried to have made the once happy space feel eerie. The windows were already temporarily boarded up, and 2 ARGUS agents were stationed outside of their apartment. Their once perfect slice of heaven, no longer safe. They would go into hiding in the morning, but for tonight… tonight, Felicity would mourn a life she had wanted more than anything. A life with her husband and their children. 

Exhausted, her and William just curled up on the couch together as it was the one place that wasn’t covered with shards of glass. Will rested his head on her shoulder. She rubbed his back and kissed his head as he sobbed some more. If Oliver being hauled away hadn’t broken her heart already, then seeing William this way definitely had. 

She couldn’t help but notice how much younger he suddenly seemed, and how much she loved him. And God! Had she ever even told him that she loved him? I mean he knew she cared for him deeply, but had she ever actually said the words to him? She knew that there was nothing she could say or do to help him right now, but she felt that she should say it anyways. “Hey Will” She said softly, waiting for him to quiet down. He looked up at her, eyes red rimmed and looking so vulnerable. “I love you. Always.” Will studied her expression before lunging forwards, hugging her tighter to him, just like Oliver did when he needed her. Felicity held him like that until he finally fell asleep, looking the most worn out she had ever seen him. 

When she could feel her legs begin to tingle, she got up slowly, trying not to wake him. She lay his head on a pillow and covered him with a spare blanket she found hidden in a cabinet. And then she just stared at him. That beautiful boy. He was now dependent on her for everything. How was she supposed to do this without Oliver?

As soon as she thought his name, she knew that the tears she had been holding in for William were about to make an appearance. So, kissing Will’s forehead one more time, and placing a cup of water, and 2 aspirins on the table beside him, she scribbled a note for him to find in case he woke up. 

"Will,  
I didn’t leave, I promise. I am just in the bedroom if you need me.  
Even if it’s just for a hug, I am here for you… always.  
I love you.  
\- Felicity"

Once she was satisfied he had all that he needed, she carefully escaped to the bedroom. Closing the door as quietly as she could, she fell to the floor, unable to move. She cried there until her backside hurt so much from the hardwood floor that she had no other choice but to move. Tiredly, she got up, not even bothering to remove her makeup, or undress herself. She just got into their bed, on Oliver’s side, and breathed in his scent. As soon as she smelled him, tears began to flow again. 

She hid her face in pillows so that she wouldn’t wake Will. She was still so mad at Oliver for doing this to her and William and the future they had worked so hard to build. But she missed him more than she was angry. She already missed his soft touches, his reassuring voice, his smile that she and Diggle had one night drunkenly dubbed “The Felicity Smile”. She missed his piercing blue eyes, that always held so much love for her. She missed his body wrapped around her as he pulled her to his chest. She missed his kisses, the way he played with her hair after they made love. She missed the even beating of his heart under her palm as it lulled her to sleep most nights. She missed him, and for a minute, she thought of nothing but the fact that she would never see him again. Her greatest fear was coming true. 

She was losing him. 

She continued to cry until she was too exhausted to fight sleep any longer. She drifted off, hugging Oliver’s pillow to her chest, breathing him in once again. 

When she awoke a few hours later, she felt cold. She automatically reached for Oliver to signal that she needed his body heat and should therefore, move closer to her, when she found the bed empty. She panicked for a second, before the memories of the previous days’ events hit her as if someone had poured ice water over her. What she had thought was a nightmare, was not. Well it was a nightmare, her worst nightmare, but it was a reality instead of in her subconscious. 

She sat up slowly, her head pounding, and tried to open her eyes. But she couldn’t. They were swollen shut. She gave herself a moment before she got up and stumbled her way to the master bathroom. She found a washcloth, then the sink, and then wet it with cold water before finding the tub and sitting on the edge. She held the cold cloth to her eyes, waiting until the swelling had gone down enough for her to open them again. Once she could do that, she got up and positioned herself in front of the mirror. 

She looked like hell. 

What was left of her makeup was sprawled out, smudged and faded on random parts of her face. Her eyes were still swollen, and her hair was falling out of its once neat ponytail in every which way possible. Some curls were stuck to the side of her face, while others flew wild and free. Her clothes (the ones she still hadn’t taken off from the day before) were wrinkled and hung from her body in strange ways. 

Wanting some sort of relief, she turned on the tap and splashed cold water on her face. When that wasn’t enough, she tried to wash her arms too. And when even that wasn’t enough, she gave up, stripped down completely nude, took her ponytail out and got into the shower. 

At first, she didn’t move. She just let the hot water rush over her body, her head hung low, staring straight ahead, and blinking. The water made streams between all the crevices and curves of her hips, breasts and bottom. She stood still, allowing her mind to blank for a moment.

Relief and numbness spread through her body like wildfire. It was relief that she felt numb. Because numbing the pain was easier than suffering through it. And although she knew she couldn’t feel numb forever, she needed a moment for pain, anger and sadness to not be the only thing she felt. She started getting tired again, so she finally closed her eyes… That was a big mistake.

As soon as her eyes closed, she remembered the look on Oliver ‘s face as he walked away from her, and their future. She remembered her sobs, and his. She remembered that the love of her life is gone. She sees his beautiful face with so much love for her that she thinks she’s going to shatter. She sees Williams broken face as he runs into her arms and…

WILLIAM! 

Her eyes snapped open. What was she going to do? She couldn’t let him see her like this. She had to be the strong one. She had to be the one to make him feel like all hope hadn’t been lost (even if she felt it had). She had to be his guide. She had to be his light. 

And then it clicked. 

She replayed in her head what Oliver had said so many times before, both to her and anyone who would listen. She had to be Williams light, just like she was Oliver’s’.  
And in the spirit of being a light, she had to get Oliver out of prison, and back to them. He promised both of them that he would always come back, DAMMIT! And she wasn’t about to let him break that promise. Not to her, and definitely not to the amazing, smart, strong, and beautiful boy sleeping in the living room. 

Screw “there’s no other way!” They always found another way! Always! This is not going to be where they gave that up! She was going to fight with everything in her to find another way. To get him back safely. And when she did, she would do two things. First, she was going to hit him for being such an ass and trying to sacrifice himself -yet again, and then she was going to climb him like a tree and never let him go. 

She quickly finished her shower, stepped out and dried her body with a towel and then her hair as best as she could. She then walked into their bedroom and went over to Oliver’s set of drawers. She pulled out one of his shirts and pulled it over her head. It was drowning her, but she could care less. She put on a pair of her sleep shorts and walked back into the bathroom to hang up her towel.

On her way out, she caught her reflection in the mirror and stopped for a moment. She looked at herself, hair still damp and eyes still red from hours of crying, and then nodded once. 

Her mind was made up.

She was going to get him back. She didn’t know how, or what it would take. But whatever it was, she would do it. She was not losing him. She was not losing her always. Their story was not over. They had been through far too much together for this to be the end. She sighed as she got back in bed, wrapping her body in Oliver’s blanket and burying her face in his pillow for the second time that night. She was getting her Oliver back. 

There was no choice to make.


End file.
